Sedona West wants to move on
from the unfortunate murder of her ex husband, however Jervis still has a trick
or two up his dead sleeve. He stole two million dollars--now missing--and the
Mob thinks she knows where the money is. Her cabin burglarized and shots fired,
she turns to the town’s hunky sheriff and the swoon-worthy celebrity
psychologist for support. She’d rather turn to them for romance, but gangsters
and thugs, masquerading as tourists, have other ideas. More than anything she
needs to put the past behind her and live a normal life, but not yet. Sampling
the “candy store” goodies of Harrison and Doug will have to wait. Right now
Sedona is worried about staying alive!

Scene Set-Up:

At the town café,
Sedona is having breakfast with Harrison Oakdale, who just recently returned to
Cozy Haven. While they’re catching up, sheriff Doug Marino interrupts and then
joins them. The two men are not eager to share Sedona’s attentions.

Excerpt:

Harrison glanced
around the Food For Thought Café. Maybe he felt their fellow diners’ gazes. He
smoothed a hank of his dark hair off his forehead. “This place gives me the
creeps. It’s like a gossip-central, isn’t it? People feasting on the lives of
others.”

“Maybe it is a
little creepy, but it’s harmless.” Sedona took a sip of water. “So why don’t
you tell me about your L.A. trip? How many radio shows did you do?”

While they talked,
the server brought them coffee. Harrison dumped sugar in his and Sedona took
hers with milk and one sugar. It was while she was stirring hers that she
noticed a shadow darkening the table.

She looked up.
Omigosh, it was Doug, standing there, looming over the edge of the booth.

He was in his
summer uniform, the one with the short sleeves revealing strong bicep muscles
on arms lightly sprinkled with dark hair. With his warrior stance, he looked,
quite frankly, ready for action.

“Doug!” she
squeaked.

“Sheriff.” Harrison
rolled his gaze.

Hopefully Doug
didn’t notice. “Mind if I join you?” Doug raked his gaze over both of them.

“Ah...” Sedona
glanced at Harrison.

“Sure,” he
begrudgingly replied.

“Hmmn, who shall I
sit next to?” Doug set his cowboy hat on the side peg on their booth, then slid
in next to her. “No contest, really.”

His muscled thigh
butted up next to her partially bare one. Heat seared through her. She tried to
move farther down the booth but honestly, there wasn’t much spare space.

“So what brings you
to the Food For Thought Café, Sheriff?” Harrison drummed his fingers on the oak
tabletop.

“Breakfast,” was
the terse reply.

The server dashed over
to take his order of coffee and rye toast, and then just as quickly sprinted
away.

“Good service,”
Harrison commented. “It’s good to be the sheriff.”

“Sometimes it is,”
Doug admitted.

Harrison tapped on
his mug. “Sedona and I saw something last night that might be important,
Sheriff.”

Sedona winced at
the “Sedona and I” part. And so did Doug. His body stiffened.

“Yep, that’s the
tea.” She lifted her own eyebrow, but at Harrison. “Anyway, as I was saying, we
were drinking the tea out on the front porch and that’s when a car raced down
the road. It didn’t have headlights on so I didn’t see the color or make of it.
I’d say it was dark though, that’s all I recall. I thought it was a drunk
tourist or a speeding teenager.”

“Probably around
ten, give or take.” Sedona ate a forkful of her huckleberry pancakes. “Mmm, this
is so good.”

“Yeah, it sure is.”
Harrison grinned.

She shook her head.
How in the world did he make everything seem like a sexual innuendo?

Doug took a bite of
his toast. “Thanks for the heads up about the speeding car. It’s possible
someone else noticed it. We’ll ask around.” He finished his coffee, then firmly
set his mug down. “I’ve got to get back to it.”

“But, Doug, you’ve
hardly eaten.”

He slid out of the
booth, and then patted at his heavy-duty belt. “I’ve had enough.”